Musicals and plays are important for the joy and happiness of numerous students. After COVID hit last year, most of the students didn’t get to see a musical. Courtney Gibson, Choir Director and Musical Director, decided to bring Annie Jr. to SCHS for a few different reasons.

“I chose to do Annie Jr. because I love the show and it is a show most people know and love,” she said. “I chose to do the hour-long version of Annie Jr. and not the full two-hour show because COVID quaraniting has made it difficult to have the entire cast present for rehearsals.”

Gibson has worked hard to make rehearsals easier for the kids, but it is still difficult to do during a pandemic.

“We wear masks when we rehearse to stay COVID safe. This is a big adjustment for the rehearsal process because the masks make it harder to understand the actors and I can’t see any of their facial expressions,” she said. “Facial expressions and reactions are a huge part of acting. So, this has been challenging to say the least.”

This time around, casting was altered to make it easier for students to audition safely.

“The casting process went really well this year and much quicker than usual. Instead of having everyone sing their different audition songs live at the audition, everyone pre-recorded the same audition song in screencastify and I watched them all before the audition,” she said. “The acting section and dancing audition were the same as in previous years.”

Annie is a well known musical that almost everyone has heard of at least one of the songs, but it wouldn’t be complete without Oliver Warbucks who is being played by Ethan Bayliss. 

“The musical this year feels like a whole new type of show. Musicals in the past definitely didn’t have people being quarantined, or masks,” he said. “Since this is my last musical, I want to make this a good one.”